By Isha Jain

Q. How important to the establishment of Stalin’s rule was his cult of

personality? Explain your answer.

After Lenin’s death in January 1924, Russia was embroiled in competition to

discover a front runner to follow Lenin. Although Joseph Stalin (who was the
general secretary in the party) seemed to be the ‘party’s most eminent
mediocrity’ as Leon Trotsky commented; he increasingly dominated the party and
emerged as the new leader and dictator of the Soviet Union for the next thirty
years. Under Stalin, the USSR transformed radically, developing from a ‘mostly
backward, agrarian, illiterate society’ into a ‘predominantly industrial, urban and
literate one’ as said by historian Stephen Cohen.However, to achieve this power
he had to establish his rule strongly and control the vast nation effectively; to
allow fast development and prove himself to be a competent leader. As Stalin’s
daughter wrote, he was ‘afraid of losing it (power) more than anything else in
the world’ and the USSR suffered in a vortex of totalitarianism and tyranny that
cemented Stalin’s power. He established his rule by controlling people’s ideas
through the cult of personality and propaganda. Moreover, he gained control
through terror and cutting out any opposition he faced , as well as appeasing
the country through development, better living conditions and a new constitution.
The cult of personality was extremely important to the establishment of Stalin’s
rule as it glorified his image and warped people’s perception of him into the ‘
Gardener of human happiness’. Despite this, the terror and repression that met
the country as he cut out any resistance to his rule, was equally as important.
Adding on, the better living conditions and rampant development that made
people support Stalin were crucial, however less important factors that led to the
establishment of Stalin’s rule.

To begin with, the cult of personality helped to solidify Stalin’s position greatly
as it made people revere him and accept him as their leader, and controlled
numerous aspects of education. The glorification of Stalin portrayed him to be
‘like a God’ as Pavel Litvinov commented (a schoolboy at the time) and led the
nation to believe the good fortune of the Soviet people to have Stalin to guide
and care for them. Through the cult of personality, numerous towns and villages
were renamed after Stalin, he was included in the Russian national anthem and
prices such as the ‘Stalin Peace Prize’ were created in his honour. Furthermore,
he was perceived as a ‘Brilliant genius of humanity’ through huge parades that
were held in Red Square in Moscow and Soviet people were deluged with
statues, portraits and photos that were ubiquitous in the USSR. All of this led to
the establishment of Stalin’s rule as the tributes to him everywhere made people
believe that he was their saviour and omniscient in all aspects. To explain
further, this reduced opposition towards him and caused people to see him in a
By Isha Jain

positive light and support his rule. Furthermore, this bombardment of media and
tributes that encapsulated the Russian people generated a ‘pressure which was
put on people’s reason, heart and soul’ as Alexander Avdeyenko commented in
an interview. Explaining further, this led to a greater reverence for the ‘Great
architect of Communism’ and established Stalin as their omnipresent leader that
would lead the Soviet Union into the ‘commanding heights of Industry’. It caused
a surge of support for his policies and rule, and also made it easier for him to
propagate his economic policies and instruct people on what to do without
backlash. Additionally, the cult of personality also organised education to
showcase Stalin as their ‘leader of the peoples’ as written in a poem printed in
Pravda, and trained them in Socialism. To explain further, history was rewritten
to show Stalin and Lenin as the heroes of the revolution and old communists
were doctored out (like Trotsky); such as in ‘A short history of the USSR’ which
Stalin had written for school students. This established his rule more strongly as
it caused younger generations to believe in him and this led to a higher
possibility of them joining the proletariat workforces and working towards the
development of the USSR more enthusiastically. Also, it created a mirage of the
benevolence of Stalin and how much he had achieved. Furthermore, from 1932
schools were introduced with more rigid programs and stricter discipline to create
a higher standard for education. This consolidated his power as it made younger
generations have the possibility of a brighter future and led to a rise in the
educated class, making people believe in him more. For instance, by 1940 the
USSR had more doctors per head in population than Britain. Adding on, political
youth groups were introduced where children were trained in Socialism and were
fed political ideas that they should follow. For example, the ‘Octobrists’ for
children aged 8 to 10, the ‘Pioneers’ for children aged 10 to 16 and the
‘Komsomol’ for young adults between the age of 19 and 23. This ensured that
the younger generations would be devout Stalin followers and not rebel against
him, as well as successfully reinforce his ideas of Socialism to them; proving
how crucial the cult of personality was to the establishment of Stalin’s rule.

In contrast, Stalin also established his rule by control through terror and cutting
out any opposition towards him through the NKVD, labour camps and ‘The
Great Purges’. Starting off, the secret police named the ‘Cheka’ from December
1917 was renamed to the ‘People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs’, or the
NKVD in 1934. This was used as a direct instrument for Stalin to eliminate any
backlash towards him and remain in power. Furthermore, the alleged criminals
and the family of these ‘public enemies’ could be tortured as well according to
the NKVD’s order no. 00486. To explain, this instilled fear and caused the
people to follow the diktats of Stalin at any cost, proving how important this was
to the establishment of Stalin’s rule. Adding on, the Gulag labour camps were at
By Isha Jain

the core of Stalin’s program of terror as they forced people into obedience to
escape becoming ‘zeks’ (inmates) or ‘Dokhodiagas’ (goners) in his labour camps;
that were used to provide slave labour in projects such as the Belomor Canal.
As written by an inmate at the time, it was impossible ‘to describe the need,
grief, pain and humiliation which we (they were) suffering here’ and this made it
clear that there was no room for opposition against Stalin. Moreover, the Gulag
labour camps were also used extensively in the Purges that established Stalin’s
rule further. The Purges transported over 20 million people in Russia by 1939,
killing over 12 million Russians in not only the Communist party, army, arts,
sciences but anyone that was under suspicion of conspiring against Stalin or the
State. The Purges began in 1934, when the leader of the Leningrad Communist
Party, Sergei Kirov suggested to slow down Industrialisation in the Seventeenth
Party Congress and generated mass support. He was mysteriously murdered
shortly after, and Stalin used his death as an excuse to ‘unmask conspirators
and spies’ to feed his paranoia of being ‘the first and best’ as Bukharin
commented. From 1936, he began a series of ‘show trials’ where thousands of
communist party members were denounced and expelled; from Zinoviev, Kaminev
and 14 others in the first show trial to Bukharin, Rykov and Yagoda (the
previous head of the NKVD) in the third show trial. Moreover, the charges
‘seemed to bear no relation to reality’ as British diplomat Fitzroy Maclearn
commented, such as the elimination of Smirnov for being a ‘plotter of Lenin’s
death’ despite the fact that he was in jail when Lenin died. The Purges led to
over a third of the communist party members being killed (out of 3 million), 90
out of 139 central committee members being shot and 1108 out of 1961
delegates of the 17th Party congress of 1934 being arrested. Moreover, he
purged 25,000 officers (1 in 5) in the army including supreme commander
Marshal Tukhachevsky and seven other generals who were the ‘Heroes of the
Civil War’.This proves how cutting out opposition was as important as the cult of
personality in establishing Stalin’s rule, as anyone in a rank of power had to
support Stalin’s ideas and there was no room for critique or independent
thought. Additionally, anybody who was suspected of opposing Stalin was
removed and ‘nobody knew whether they would be arrested’ as quoted in the
book ‘Stalin, a time for judgement’. Through the education that Stalin had
updated in the cult of personality, children were encouraged to do the ‘right
thing’ and tell on their parents and neighbours; such as the 14 year old called
Pavlik Morozov who denounced his own family. This created an atmosphere of
hysteria in the USSR, giving rise to grim ‘4 am jokes’ about The Purges and
establishing Stalin as the USSR’s all powerful dictator. This is because it
created a totalitarian state where independent thought was condemned.
Moreover, this was equally as important to the consolidation of his power as the
cult of personality; as through this, Stalin committed to the ‘liquidation of his
By Isha Jain

enemies and rivals’ (as Stalin’s daughter commented) and ensured all power to
himself.

Despite the Purges, the cult of personality also majorly established Stalin’s rule
as it halted the spread of ideas further through its effect on the arts and
literature. To begin with, artists were forced to produce works which glorified the
achievements of the Soviet workers and the revolution, such as the works of
painter Aleksandr Deineka which depicted the achievements of soviet workers
and peasants. Adding on, this was called ‘Socialist Realism’ and any other work
was called ‘Bourgeois’ which was censored immediately and threatened the loss
of livelihood for the artist. For example, the poet Osip Mandelstam was
transported to a labour camp after writing a poem that subtly went against
Stalin. As students in 1935 commented, ‘The party deals harshly with anybody
who tries to depict the real state of affairs’ which reflects the glorification of
Stalin as well as the society he was creating. Furthermore, this was crucial in
establishing his rule as nobody could dare to portray him in a negative way and
no one in the USSR was exposed to the harsh realities that certain groups
were facing or the failures that were brought on by Stalin and could exacerbate
any existing opposition towards him. Moreover, the cult of personality controlled
the music and only music/works of art that pleased Stalin were allowed. To
illustrate, the composer Shostakovich wrote an opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,
which was at first praised by critics but as Stalin disliked it, he was condemned.
As Victor Serge wrote, books were ‘mutilated or murdered’ so that only
information that Stalin wanted his people to know could be found in the USSR,
allowing Stalin to establish his rule even more strongly.Adding on, this creation
of propaganda was creating false information and ideals that coveted the
Russian way of life and generated mass support for Stalin.Thus, this creation of
a totalitarian state where independent thinking wasn’t allowed and there was
complete control over all the media that people had access to was crucial in
Stalin’s rise to power.

However, the control by repression and terror to any groups that could be a
threat to Stalin was equally as important towards his establishment of power.
Starting off, numerous ethnic groups were persecuted under Stalin which ensured
his power as he wanted to cut off as much opposition he could. In the 1930’s,
he introduced various stringent policies towards a diverse range of nationalities
that discriminated against them and secured his power. A new regulation in
1932 dictated that Soviet citizens had to carry identity booklets with their
nationality and between 1935 and 1938, Stalin deported members of 9 ethnic
groups. To exemplify, when Japan started to expand in the far-east, Stalin
deported 142,000 Koreans from his eastern most borders, and continued the
By Isha Jain

harsh policy of ‘Russification’. Moreover, the Finnish population in the Soviet

union fell by a third during the 1930’s. This illustrates how Stalin was convinced
that the use of terrors and executions were ‘necessary for the defence of the….
interests of the victory of Socialism and communism’ as Nikita Khrushchev
commented. Moreover, as Karl Marx wrote, ‘Communism is incompatible with
religious faith’ and hence the christian church and Muslim religion were forbidden
under Stalin. A group called the ‘League of the Godless’ smashed churches and
by 1939, only 1 out of 40 churches had regular service. Moreover, the number
of mosques fell from 26,000 to 1,300 between 1917 and 1939. To explain,
Stalin did this to establish his rule in favour of a Socialist nation; however, in
1937 60% of Russians still identified themselves as Christian. So, Stalin allowed
the Orthodox Church to run during the second world war to maintain morale,
and hence established his rule further as people were more content during the
war. Overall, the cult of personality and control through various forms of terror
were both equally important in establishing Stalin’s rule. This is because the
control of ideas and control through terror were mutually dependent on each
other to allow Stalin to secure his position. Furthermore, the combination of the
two factors worked simultaneously to provide Stalin with a country that believed
him to be the ‘father of nations’ and had a pervading fear of imprisonment; to
allow Stalin to lead the nation with unrelenting firmness and ruthlessness.

Additionally, Stalin conciliated his people through various means in order to

establish his rule successfully. Starting off, Stalin created a new constitution that
allowed the freedom of speech and free elections, which generated a lot of
support for him. However, this was merely a cosmetic measure as only
communits party members could stand in elections and only censored media
was shown. Hence, this consolidated his position effectively as he retained all
his power while keeping his citizens content. Furthermore, the introduction of his
economic policies such as the 5 year plans and Collectivisation, established his
position further as it created support (paired with the propaganda) and greatly
alleviated living conditions for many people. To explain, the collectivisation ‘vastly
increased its (the Soviet Union’s) food supply’ as Stalin commented and
expanded numerous new towns which provided opportunities for a better life for
numerous people. This helped Stalin gain in power as it generated support
towards him and provided the people of the Soviet Union with new horizons and
opportunities. Moreover, Stalin propagated his policy of ‘Socialism in one country’
and encouraged people to work together to emerge as the ‘New Soviet Man’.
Industrialisation encouraged the idea of a proletariat workforce and hard working
‘Stakhanovites’. Furthermore, incentives such as extra pay and holidays were
introduced to improve production. This created a lot of enthusiasm to support
Communism and Stalin, where many people started to ‘arrive of their own free
By Isha Jain

will’ (as John Scott wrote in his book, Behind the Urals) to major projects such
as Magnitogorsk and the Moscow Underground Railway. However, Stalin’s
appeasement of his people is less important than the factors mentioned above.
To explain further, despite the improvements of some aspects of life, the buying
power of a worker’s wage fell by over 50% during the 1930’s and the average
worker in Moscow during the 1930s ate only 20% of meat compared to 1900.
Additionally, housing was still difficult and ‘badly built’ as written by historian
Freda Utley which provided a detrimental effect to the establishment of Stalin’s
rule.

In conclusion, Stalin established his rule successfully after Lenin’s death due to
numerous factors that led him to becoming an all powerful dictator and
transforming the USSR into a totalitarianistic state that had full control over its
people. Many historians believe that ‘ Absolute power turned (Stalin) into a
monstrous tyrant’ as historian Adam Ulam commented and plunged the USSR
into a ‘bloodbath of absolute dictatorship’ as Stalins daughter wrote.However, the
establishment of Stalin’s rule also caused a pivotal change in the development
of the USSR and transformed it into the world’s second most powerful nation.
The cult of personality and the control that was exercised through terror and
repression were both equally important to securing Stalin’s position. Also, another
less important factor was appeasing the nation through his economic policies
that ‘solved the country’s most serious economic problem’ as historian Mark B.
Tauger commented. Overall, Stalin’s rise and establishment of rule changed the
course of the Soviet Union forever and paved the path for it to become a world
superpower.

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